First off, congrats to everyone on admission to the University of Maryland!
For students that were fortunate enough to be a direct admit to engineering, you should know that there is a special, two-year living-learning (LLP) program just for engineers called Flexus for females and Virtus for males.
Engineering at UMD is truly awesome because they make such a unique effort to support and retain engineering students. These programs have all the bells and whistles you need to succeed:
-housing with other engineers so built-in support for classes/studying
-career prep - resumes, elevator speeches, career fair prep
-tutoring/review sessions in your building for first and second year engineering courses
"Application, Review Process, and Timeline
To apply to join the Virtus (Flexus) Program, please complete the application, which can be found through this link: go.umd.edu/wieLLPapp
Please note that space is limited.
The priority deadline to apply is on Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
Applicants will be notified of decisions by Monday, April 13, 2020."
This is a fabulous program specific to engineering students and gives incredibly helpful information. This is your chance to ask all those questions about engineering directly, talk to current engineering students, meet a few professors and get a real picture of the 4 year plan for the different disciplines within engineering.
I can not recommend this program highly enough. Please note space is limited, so you need to sign up as soon as you can.
@maryversity So what do you think of Scholars vs Flexus? Daughter accepted to engineering and scholars but wondering if Flexus is a better choice. A little worried about the extra classes required for scholars in an already full engineering schedule.
@hokie95 You can be in both Scholars and Flexus. My girl is in both, a current sophomore with EE major. She is also a mentor for her Scholars’ program (Science, Discovery, and Universe) and a Clark mentor for current engineering freshman. Let me know if we can help answer some questions.
@LotcaJH could we connect my daughter with your daughter? I know she has some questions around both programs and the Science, Discovery, and Universe is high on her list for Scholars.
Can you do it with honors? Having a hard time making sense of the honors LLC none of which seem geared for engineering if you aren’t into cyber security
@treschicos the idea of the honors program is to augment your education in a way that “expands” your horizons. If none of the themes appeal to you, you might want to consider the University Honors. It gives the advantage of making honors seminars available to you, but is more flexible since you pick and choose which ones you like rather than having specific requirements. @SoofDad can speak more to that. Since engineering is a very intensive course of study, that works well for a lot of engineering students.
@hokie95 I think you will get your best answers from @LotcaJH. Fortunately, female engineers do not need to make the choice between Scholars and Flexus whereas males cannot participate in both (at least they couldn’t when my son went). The difference is that Flexus is tied in with the whole Women in Engineering program, which I understand is fabulous. The networking, camaraderie, support, programming, and everything in between is really invaluable.
@treschicos As @maryversity pointed out. my D was in University Honors. She picked that one because of its flexibility. She enjoyed the Honors classes and seminars that she took and it was very easy for her to complete her Citation requirements. She lived in Hagerstown Hall Freshman year and moved to Denton Hall the following year.
However, in 2019, University Honors embarked on a multi-year initiative to transform its academic and student life programs.
At the heart of these efforts is an innovative, multidisciplinary curriculum comprised of thematically organized courses on topics of contemporary and enduring significance. These clusters and tracks of I-series courses and small seminars will be taught by teams of tenure-line and professional-track faculty drawn from across the university’s colleges and schools, as well as by area-experts from the Washington, D.C. area.
That was copied from the UMD University Honors website.
Thank you. I may see if he wants to change his ranking to general honors. The only one that was thematically appealing was the design one but I worry about the added requirements with the difficulty and number of classes required for engineering. Too bad about the Virtus not compatible with honors as it seems in his wheelhouse. Most of his friends and collaborators are female aspiring engineering or CS students.
I have a son that was admitted directly into engineering and honors. He is also having a hard time picking an honors college. Virtus is appealing and as I read above it appears as though he can not do both. Can anyone speak on the pros and cons of the Honors College vs Virtus. I have not found much on the specific academic requirements of any of the honors colleges or other advantages. He is not opposed to expanding his horizons but wants to make sure it is in an area of interest and more importantly wants to know what he is agreeing to academically. Also will he be rejected from the honor colleges that do not coincide with his major.
@scubamom17 yes, not only can she apply now, but she should since the deadline for the LLP application is April 1st. It is Not a commitment to attend Maryland, so no worries.
For those that either didn’t read or just skimmed the detailed announcement of Dean Pines as next UMD President, let me call your attention to:
“the Clark School’s one-year undergraduate retention rate is 91 percent; its five-year graduation rate is 75 percent—both of which rank among the top at public flagship universities nationwide.”
I want to also reiterate the value of attending the engineering preview program -there are only 2 dates available (March 5 and April 9) on a first-come, first-served reservation system. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the registration link
My daughter was also admitted into engineering honors and is not really interested in any of the LLPs listed.
The webpage for Flexus states: "As space is limited, Flexus is designed for students who are not a part of other Living and Learning Programs. " This definitely doesn’t sound as if the girls can be part of both. The deadlines for Honors LLPs and Flexus are different, Feb 17 and April 1, respectively. Hard to know what to do–don’t want to miss out on Honors in case she doesn’t get a Flexus spot.
@TRD721, I wouldn’t be put off by that statement as Flexus is part of Women in Engineering, so I believe there is a little more flexibility in what they will accommodate. I remember female engineers telling me they participated in both programs but just had to choose which residential assignment they wanted. However, that was when University Honors was not thematic nor had a residential component, as I believe that they are just starting to do this year. The girl I spoke with back then said she did both programs but elected to live with Flexus and was VERY glad she made that choice. She described it as all the benefits of a sorority without the baggage of sororities. (Having a daughter who joined at another university, I can attest to the “baggage” of having to buy certain clothes, the high dues and constant fundraising, etc) Of course, the “right” choice is going to be different for every student, and departmental honors is more prestigious so if your daughter doesn’t have interest in any of the honors LLPs, I would personally lean towards Flexus. It’s a shame that honors got rid of the EIP theme (entrepreneurship and innovation) and are making university honors thematic as those both seemed to be more appealing to engineering students - I am seeing a lot of engineering students expressing lack of interest in the honors LLP options this go round…
Honors LLP application is due tonight but my daughter decided not to go for any of them. Maybe those who are already up to speed with UMD understand it better, but I found the description for the revised University Honors and themes to be somewhat opaque.